Soldier X
by Dragonhulk
Summary: Xander has escaped the clutches of Weapon X, but he once again runs afoul of Murphy’s Law. This is a sequel to my story Weapon X. If you haven’t read it yet I suggest you do so before reading this.
1. Chapter 1

The X Factor

Disclaimer: I own the first two X-Men movies and some comics; this is the extent of my participation in the franchise. I would happily own the rights to X-Men, and Buffy, but I find myself quite poor at the moment.

Rating: Teen. I assure you I will write nothing worse than what was shown in the films or TV series.

Summery: Xander has escaped the clutches of Weapon X, but he once again runs afoul of Murphy's Law. This is a sequel to my story "Weapon X." If you haven't read it yet I suggest you do so before reading this.

Authors Notes: This is set Post S3 for Buffy and during the X2 movie. I had planned to set it after X2 but my muse cried bloody murder, flushed the outline down the drain, and made me write this instead.

* * *

"I'm hungry," said a young voice from the back of the minivan.

"It's almost lunch time, and I think we can stop for some food. What do you say Jono?" said Xander from the passenger side seat.

The leather clad young man didn't say anything, but everyone else in the vehicle instantly knew that he didn't mind. Just because he didn't need to eat thanks to the whole in his chest didn't mean he couldn't enjoy tasting food.

"I could use a break from driving," said the blond driver in her soft southern accent.

"Well that settles it, we'll stop at the next place with a drive through and switch drivers after we grab the grub," said Xander.

"We can go inside today," said a small, almost inaudible voice. "My spikes aren't that bad today, I can pass."

"Its still dangerous Sarah," said Xander as he turned and saw that the little girl did indeed have fewer spikes today then she did most days. All she needed was her baseball cap and she would look like a normal human child, instead of a young mutant that had survived more pain than most adults.

"Please Mr. Xander, its Jessie's birthday today," said the young girl that had once been known as Surgeon, but was now called Beth, as she held her sister.

"Paige, Jono, what do you guys think, is it worth the risk?" asked Xander.

"We have enough money that we can afford something different," said Paige with a frown as she thought of the family vampires they had killed to acquire the van with tinted windows and bag of cash. Apparently their thought of a road trip had including murdering and robbing everyone they could while moving from town to town.

Jono was once again silent, but everyone knew he wanted to be safe thanks to the telepathic communication he sent out.

"Great, that makes me the tiebreaker," said Xander with a sigh. "Okay Page, pull over at the first Denny's you see. As long as we play it safe we should be okay. That means Jono keeps his straps and shirt on nice and tight, and Sarah keeps her hat on no matter what."

"Don't worry Xander, none of us want to get captured again," said Paige.

"That's just the thing; I'm not worried about capture this time. We destroyed their holding base and killed every doctor or soldier that worked there. This means that next time they come after us the orders will probably be shoot to kill," said Xander.

"You really think this Xavier guy will be able to stop them?" asked Paige as she looked for a place to eat.

"I think Xavier will be able to hide us," said Xander. "From what Creed said during the planning sessions the guy isn't much for violence, but he has been able to hide an entire school of mutants for years now."

"What if we don't want to hide?" asked Beth. "What if we want to make sure that people can't do what was done to us ever again?"

"First you turn eighteen, and then we can talk about what you can do," said Xander. "Until then just keep your sister safe."

"We're here," said Paige as she pulled into the parking lot.

After the typical welcome the six were seated in a nice comfortable booth and were handed menus. It wasn't the kind of place Xander was use to even before he started hanging around a group of renegade mutants, but he had to admit it was nice.

"Excuse me miss, but do you have any decent tea here?" asked Jono as he caught their waitress.

"I'm told the green tea isn't too bad," said the waitress before she moved off to attend another table.

"Nice trick there, but your lips were a bit out of sync. You should probably practice a bit more before you try that in public again," said Xander with a grin.

The next few moments Jonothan shared a rather interesting collection of words with Xander without once moving his lips.

The rest of the meal passed in relative peace, and the other patrons in the restaurant dismissed them as a group of good friends, perhaps family. No one thought the smiling little girls had been trained to kill or be killed, or that the teens had been through unheard of tortures just because of one overactive gene.

If the meal had ended on this scene, this story would have been a happier one. Instead fates once again conspired to meddle in the life of one Alexander Harris by prompting the manager to turn on the television to catch up on the daily news.

"White house officials have just confirmed that there was indeed an attempt on the presidents' life yesterday at 5:09 local time. While no ID has been made sources indicate that the assassin could have been a mutant," said the local newsman.

"I think it's about time to leave," said Xander as he started pealing off bills from the roll they had brought into the restaurant.

"Couldn't agree more," said Paige as she watched the atmosphere become more and more unfriendly.

Once they were all safely in the car Xander let out a low almost animalistic growl as he hit the dashboard and said, "Remind me to kill whoever that was if I ever meet them."

"Get in line," muttered Paige

"This will give them the excuse they've been looking for won't it?" asked Beth showing a frightening amount of insight for a fourteen year old. "They won't have to take us in secret any more, it'll all be legal."

"That just makes hiding even more important, and if we can't hide at a school for those gifted like ourselves, then we'll find somewhere else to hide," said Xander as he drove the car full of newly frightened people towards Westchester County.


	2. Second Contact

Logan grumbled to himself as he played a game of pool against Marie's new boyfriend. It wasn't how he would have liked to pass the time, but it was a good way to make sure the kid was good enough for Marie.

"So what do you think they'll be like?" asked Bobby.

"Don't know," answered Logan. He didn't need to ask who Bobby was referring to. Ever since the Professor had announced that there was a group of mutants making their way towards the school it was all anyone would talk about, and lucky him he got to be the one to greet them.

It wasn't that he had anything against the newcomers; it was just that he wanted to get some sleep after being on the road for so long, and he couldn't do that until they got here. Apparently the Professor trusted him enough to greet the new blood when all the other adults were gone.

"They're here!" shouted Marie from her position at the window, causing everyone to surge towards the door.

"Back off!" yelled Logan as he made his way through the sea of teenage mutants. "The Professor said that these people were a bit nervous, so don't crowd them. Bobby, Marie, John, you're with me. The rest of you stay back until they get use to this place."

Opening the door Logan saw six kids, just like Xavier said. What troubled him though was that each and every one of these kids had a haunted look in their eyes, and that was as far as he got before the dark haired teen punched him in the nose.

* * *

Xander did his best not to show how nervous he was as the van passed the open gates. They were apparently expecting his little group of refugees, and Xander wasn't sure if it was a good thing, or a bad thing.

Just as he was about to ring the doorbell the door opened on its own, revealing four people. Three of them were teenagers around his, Jono's, and Paige's age, but it was contestant number four that caught Xanders eye.

He had a rough biker feel to him, but more importantly Xander remembered him. It was the same guy that was in the bar the same night Xander had killed the vamp, the same night the Weapon X goons detected a mutant in the area.

Xanders fist connected with the mans nose before he even registered he was throwing a punch. Two months of pain and torture found a new face to blame, and Xander wasn't going to waist a moment keeping it bottled up.

He was vaguely aware of other people yelling and screaming at him to stop, but he couldn't. This was the mutant the goons had been after, and he had to pay for all the pain he had caused.

Xander Harris had fought vampires, demons, mutants, and creatures that had once been mutants so he had developed quite a bit of fighting skill. It was this newfound skill and the suddenness of the attack that allowed Xander to land blows on the man called Logan for a full thirty seconds before three unbreakable claws were shoved in front of his face.

"You want to continue this, fine, just know that I won't be your punching bag," growled Logan.

The claws surprised Xander, though they shouldn't have. This guy was a mutant, so he had to have some kind of power. Besides maybe he could try talking now that some of his anger had been worked off.

"Do you remember me?" asked Xander.

"To months ago, the wise guy in the bar," said Logan in a tight voice.

"About ten minutes after you left some guys came looking for a mutant to bag, and I'm assuming that mutant was you," said Xander in a dead tone. "Due to a really stupid mistake they figured I was the mutant, and took me instead. Got to say I'm surprised that they caught you later though."

"What to you mean?" asked Logan.

"The metal claws. The whole part mutant part machine is kind of their signature," said Xander.

"You know who did this?" asked Logan, as he retracted his claws.

"Sorry, don't have any names for you, but if it was the same people that were playing Frankenstein where I was staying they're dead," said Xander.

"That's something at least," growled out Logan. "Bobby, Marie, John, show the kids where they'll be staying, I'm going to crash."

"Did you have to do that?" asked Paige.

"No, and I don't even feel good about doing it," said Xander. "Something in me just snapped when I saw him again, even though he didn't intentionally do anything to me."

"Just make sure you tell him that before he decides to kick the rest of us out because of your temper," said Paige, as she grabbed her meager possessions and followed Marie up the stairs.

"Man you are so lucky, if you had pushed him just a bit more Mr. Logan would have cut you open," said John as he walked over to Xander while Bobby was talking to Jono.

"I'll be lucky as soon as I can get home," said Xander. "I've had enough mutant troubles to last me a lifetime, and I'm more than ready to get back to my everyday troubles."

"Well as long as you have that x-gene like the rest of us your mutant troubles won't be ending anytime soon," said John.

"That's the thing, I don't have the x-gene," said Xander with a sigh. "I'm the normal one, and the only reason I was kidnapped by the government is because I'm the buttmonkey for every higher power you can think of."

"No powers?" asked John in a much more guarded voice.

"No powers," confirmed Xander. "Between the life I have back home, and the last two months of my vacation, I'm sure that if I had any powers they would have shown up by now."

"Oh," said John in a very guarded voice.

"It's probably a good thing to," said Xander as he stifled a yawn. "Knowing my luck it would be something stupid, like changing the color of comic books, but only comic books."

"Goodnight," said John.

Xander didn't respond, he just saw the bed and almost fell asleep on his feet. He decided to sleep now and find out what he did to piss off John tomorrow.


	3. Laughing Nightmares

Xander awoke screaming and drenched in his sweat. The nightmares were getting worse despite his best efforts to ignore them.

The Hyena and Soldier possessions had been two of the worst experiences in his life, and he had thought he was over them. Maybe he had been before he had left on his trip, but using the remnants of the possessions to keep out unwanted guests, not to mention all the extra roommates he had during his stay in Weapon X had woken them both up. Now every night he was treated to the worst parts of the Vietnam War while covered in the blood of kills he had made with his own fangs and claws.

Dragging himself out of bed Xander made his way out of the guest room he had been given, and made his way down the stairs. At this moment he either needed lots of sugar or caffeine because going back to sleep wasn't an option until tomorrow.

"Hey kid, where's the kitchen?" Xander asked a kid that was changing channels by blinking.

"That way," said the kid as he pointed behind Xander.

"Thanks," said Xander as he entered the kitchen and saw Logan talking to Bobby.

"Come down her for round two kid?" asked Logan as he took a swig of soda.

"Not really," said Xander as he started to rummage through the shelves. "Right now I'm just looking for something that contains enough caffeine or sugar to make sure I don't sleep for a week."

"Try the Sugar Bombs; they have enough sugar to keep you up for a month. Lee's the only one who eats them and her roommates would worship you if you contributed to her being a bit less hyper," said Bobby.

"You having bad dreams or something kid?" asked Logan as Xander poured a bowl of cereal.

"You say bad dreams, I say night terrors that are trying to use me as a gateway to enter the waking world," said Xander. He was already getting decent sugar buzz just from smelling the cereal so he was a bit more talkative than he had been, whoever this Lee was he had to complement her on her choice of breakfast meals.

"That bad huh?" said Logan.

"And then some," said Xander between spoonfuls of chemicals that would make a Twinkie look natural. "My life wasn't great before, but some of the stuff I saw in there puts the worst I've seen to shame."

"Like what?" asked Bobby.

"You remember Beth?" asked Xander.

"The big sister," said Bobby.

"That's her," said Xander. "According to the records we uncovered she was about a week from being the first participant in a breeding program before we broke out. What that means is that her uncle was going to have her constantly raped so she could produce baby mutants that he could turn into weapons."

"Maybe you should hold back on the horror stories kid," said Logan as he looked at a green Bobby.

"He's my age, so if he doesn't want to hear the answer he shouldn't ask the question," said Xander with a shrug.

"I don't think Bobby here has led your type of life, that makes him young enough that he shouldn't have to hear about that kind of stuff," said Logan.

"Its okay, I just won't ask any questions, for the rest of my life," said Bobby.

"Not a smart plan when you're at a school," said Xander with a smirk.

"You really kill them all?" asked Logan after a few moments of silence.

"Not me personally, but I don't think anyone who was captured would let one of them get away alive. The ones that weren't killed by mutants during the escape burned to death in the fire, or were buried alive," said Xander.

"Any chance of their computers surviving?" asked Logan.

"Doubt it; Info Lady would have wiped everything before the place came down," said Xander.

"Info Lady?" asked Logan with a raised eyebrow.

"Sorry, but that's just how I think of her. When she was in my head she just seemed to be made from information," said Xander as he finished off the bowl of cereal. "Considering that she was being used as a living computer at the time I guess she was just information wrapped in flesh."

"Any idea where she is now?" asked Logan.

"We figured it was better not to tell each other where we were going when we escaped, that way we wouldn't all be recaptured if just one person was caught," said Xander. "Why are you interested anyway?"

"Got some questions that I thought those files might be able to answer, but it doesn't seem to matter now," said Logan.

"They're all dead, what else do you need to know?" asked Xander.

"Like I said it doesn't matter now," said Logan with a slight growl in his voice.

"Maybe, maybe not," said Xander. "Tessa was in my head a lot while we were planning the escape, and for all I know some of the information she had may still be in here. As soon as this all powerful professor gets back I'll let him take a look to see if there is anything rattling around my skull that you may need."

"Thanks, I appreciate it," said Logan.

"It's not really a favor. While the big brain is up there I expect him to help me with my nightmares. I'm a professional slacker so I don't want to be up before the sun unless the world is about to end," said Xander as he smiled as his own private joke.

"Don't worry kid, I don't think the world is going anywhere for a while," said Logan right before two heavily armed soldiers burst into the kitchen.

Xander pushed Bobby down onto the floor a split second after Logan started to rush the armed men. On the way down time seemed to slow, and Xander relived each detail of his nightmare. At the very end he could feel something escaping from inside him, and then he was on top of Bobby.

Looking up both Bobby and Xander froze in place when they saw the golden, primal eyes staring at them. Okay so they were more afraid of the large sharp teeth below the eyes, but the eyes still turned Xanders blood to ice.

"I take it back, I want the ability to change the color of comic books instead," said Xander just before the abnormally large hyena started to laugh.


	4. Let the Wild Things Run Free

"Um, good doggie?" said Xander in a pitiful attempt to dissuade the very real hyena from killing him or Bobby.

Just as the hyena started to laugh again a soldier came over the counter Xander and Bobby had ducked under and pointed a very large weapon at them. Before the soldier had a chance to line up a shot the hyena leapt up and proceeded to tear the soldier into tiny bloody chunks while Logan finished off the other one.

"You guys alright?" asked Logan as he got a look at the soldiers' mutilated corpses.

"Bobby's throwing up, and I'm covered in the blood of a dead man. Yeah, we're good to go," said Xander without taking his eyes off of the hyena.

"All right, does Xavier have some kind of plan for this?" asked Logan.

"Evacuation," said Bobby as he tried not to look at Xander, the hyena, or the dead body. "We know where the passages are, the others just need to be woken up."

Just then the entire house was filled with an ear splitting streak that would have probably demolished any glass objects at ground zero.

"I think that'll do it," said Xander as he put his hands over his ears.

"Go make sure the kids get out okay, I'll keep the rest of these guys busy," said Logan as he stalked out of the room.

"I'll go make sure the others are getting out," said Bobby as he ran away from Xander as fast as he could.

"Hey Fido," said Xander to the hyena. "I'm betting that you enjoyed ripping that guy to pieces, so let's make a deal. Right now this place is probably full of soldiers, and I'm giving you permission to hunt, kill, and mutilate as many as you want. However, if you so much as look at anyone else wrong I'll have Willow and Giles lock you up so tight in my mind you'll never get out."

The hyena's only response to the conditions was to let out a high pitched laugh and bounded out of the room in search for prey.

"I just let a blood thirsty animal spirit loose in a school that's being invaded with soldiers; I wonder if this place has its own Hellmouth?" Xander muttered as he started to run through the halls trying to find someone to tell him how to get out of dodge. "The real question though is if Fido's out then what about Soldier Boy?"

"I'm right behind you sir," said a voice six inches behind Xander.

Quickly looking behind him Xander saw a figure that could pass for his twin from Halloween, except the figure had no face, just a smooth lump of flesh where the eyes, nose and mouth were supposed to be. This night was quickly entering his top ten list of freaky nights, and when you consider he had seen the Mayor turn into a giant snake that's saying something.

"You can talk," said Xander.

"Yes sir," said the faceless soldier.

"Without a mouth," continued Xander.

"Yes sir," repeated the spirit made flesh.

"I don't suppose you could find Sarah, Jessie, Beth, Paige, and kill anyone that tries to hurt them can you?" asked Xander.

"Yes Sir!" said the soldier right before he ran off.

"Okay so my worst nightmares are coming to life and doing what I tell them to do. I guess it's a good thing because they're keeping me alive, but dang it, why couldn't my dream about Buffy taking off the rain coat be the one that was made real," muttered Xander in an effort to keep himself from completely losing it.

* * *

Sarah tried not to cry as she hid from the soldiers. In the confusion, she had gotten separated from the others, and she didn't know where to go without the others to lead her. So she just hid in the strange school, from soldiers that wanted to kill her, or worse take her back to Weapon X.

As the door to the closet Sarah was hiding in began to open the little girl clutched the sharp bone fragment she had pulled out of herself tightly between her hands. She wasn't going back, and if she was going to die she was going to take some of the humans with her.

As the door opened Sarah leapt up, and blindly slashed at her attacker. She didn't have much experience, but today she had luck as her bone shard slipped between the soldier's armor and sunk into soft flesh.

Sarah's victory was short-lived though as a second soldier she hadn't seen shot her with tranquilizers. As the darkness started to claim her Sarah tried to push her bone knife into her own heart, but only cried as the drugs robbed her of the strength to do so.

* * *

Xander struggled to stay awake as he moved through the halls of the school. For some reason he didn't understand he had been getting progressively weaker ever since the spirits had escaped from his body.

Glancing around a corner Xander immediately drew his head back as he saw all the soldiers pointing guns at Logan. Xander would have hesitated even when he was feeling in top form, and he hesitated even longer before picking up a broken piece of wood.

Turning back around ready to help Logan as long as he could Xander was shocked to see a wall of ice forming between Logan and the soldiers. Apparently, the soldiers were just as shocked because none of them fired a shot while the wall was forming.

"Come on we need to go," said the girl, Marie, from what appeared to be a secret passage.

"Go, I'll be fine," said Logan as he attempted to look through the ice wall.

"But we won't be," pleaded Marie.

This seemed to convince Logan because he turned around and started to walk towards the secret passage.

"Wait for me!" shouted Xander as he started to sprint towards the passage. Something told him that this was his only chance to escape, and there was no way in hell that he was going to let it pass him by.

The second the concealed panel was closed Xander felt two familiar consciousnesses slam back into his mind. While they weren't welcome returns they seemed as drained as he was and were quieter than they had been for months so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

"So, where to next?" Xander asked Bobby, Marie, John, and Logan.


	5. Driving Down the Road of Life

"Does anyone want to tell me what the hell just happened?" asked John as he, Bobby, and Xander tried to get comfortable in the back seat.

"I don't know the specifics, but I'm guessing that it's something along the lines of secret government agency that either wants to kill mutants or use them as weapons of mass destruction," said Xander.

"Something like that can't exist," whispered Marie.

"News flash, agencies like this have been around for a long time. I just thought it would take longer for another one to form after the last one was destroyed," said Xander.

"You ever think that maybe you didn't completely destroy it, and that they may want fresh recruits after your little breakout?" asked Logan as his foot pressed the accelerator down even further.

Xander frowned, he had though of that, even if he didn't want to believe it. He knew that there was no way that all of the kids had escaped the raid, and he really didn't want to think of what the future may hold for them now that they'd been captured.

"Could they be the same ones that captured you?" asked Bobby as he looked directly at Xander.

"Same individuals? No way, we made sure each person was dead before we left," said Xander in a sure tone of voice. "They could be part of the same agency though."

"What'll happen to the people that were captured?" asked Marie.

"If they're lucky a quick death," said Xander. "If they have someone like Beth there that won't happen though. If that's the case then the people that were caught can look forward to months, possibly years, of physical and mental torture. Their only chance is being rescued or staging a mass breakout."

"Hey, not to interrupt this happy and joyful mood your setting, but does anyone know exactly where we're going?" asked John.

"We're going away from the men who want to shoot us, and right now that's good enough for me," said Xander.

"John's right, we need to think of somewhere safe to stay for a while," said Logan.

"My house isn't that far from here," said Bobby in a small voice.

"Drake's house it is then," said Logan.

* * *

Almost an hour had passed in a silence that had only been broken by the heavy breathing coming from Bobby and Marie as they slept, and Logan finding some kind of cell phone in the radio.

"You know you'll burn a hole through the side of my head if you keep staring at me like that," said Xander.

"Trust me, if I wanted to burn you, you'd be nothing but ash by now," said John as he flicked his lighter open and used his powers to make the flame slowly circle around his right index finger.

"You want to tell me why you find my head so interesting then?" asked Xander.

"Just trying to figure out what you're thinking now that you're a member of the freak brigade," said John.

"I'll let you know as soon as I start thinking of myself as a freak," said Xander.

"Don't play dumb with me; I saw something go into you when we were escaping. So what's your power, astral protection or something?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure. Heck despite what I can do now I'm still not sure that I'm a mutant," said Xander with a grin.

"What are you talking about?" asked John.

"Lets just say that I led an interesting life for years before I met Mr. Metal Claws," said Xander as he nodded towards Logan, who just growled slightly at the childish nickname he had just been given. "Right now I have no idea if I'm able to do what I do because I'm a mutant, or if it's just a side effect of the life I've led."

"Come one, your from California, what problems could you have other than finding a good place to surf," sneered John.

"Are you kidding me, if I ever tried to surf I'd be eaten by some kind of sea monster," said Xander with a laugh.

"You didn't answer my question," said John.

"My life, my secrets, and right now I don't feel like sharing," said Xander as he closed his eyes, a sure sign that he considered the conversation ended.

John got the hint, but surprisingly it was Logan that pressed the issue by saying, "Listen kid you've shown you can take care of yourself, but right now we need some reasons to trust you."

"Trust me? Why would you need reasons to trust me?" asked Xander.

"Because we were attacked just a few hours after you showed up at the door by soldiers, something you admitted you've run across," said Logan. "It may be wrong but when something like that happens I can't help but wonder just how much you had to do with it."

Xander sat quietly for a while, holding back his anger just enough that he didn't have his inner hyena rip out Logan's throat. A part of him knew that if the roles were reversed he'd be asking the same questions, but damn it, how _dare_ they accuse him of having anything to do with the soldiers after what he'd been through.

"When I was sixteen my best friend was killed by something that wasn't human or mutant," said Xander. "I'm not going to tell you what I fought you wouldn't believe me, and it's only important that you know I fought it until I graduated high school. Then on my vacation when I could finally relax I was kidnapped and put in a place where the men were beaten for fun every night, and most of the attractive women were raped, including one twelve year old girl. Keep that in mind the next time you even think of accusing me of having anything to do with the people that attacked your school."

Most people that had lived the life Logan had lived would have pressed for details, but then most people didn't have hearing sharp enough to catch every drop of sincerity in what a person said, and the pain attached to the things that were left unsaid.

"Good enough for me kid," said Logan as they entered a nice looking suburban community.


	6. Laws of the Jungle

"Nice place Drake," said Xander as he walked into the house. It wasn't huge like the mansion Angelus lived in, but it was a step above Buffy's house.

"Yeah, nice," said John as he dropped down on a couch.

"Uh, thanks. Listen I'm going to go upstairs and find something for Marie to wear," said Bobby.

"Whatever," said Logan as he wandered towards the kitchen. It had been a long drive in more ways than one, and he really needed a beer.

For a while Xander and John sat in the room in uncomfortable silence. A few months ago he would have immediately said something inappropriate to break the tension, but his time in Weapon X had taught him that sometimes it was better to let the other person speak first.

"So tell me, how does it feel now that you're a mutant freak like the rest of us," said John.

"Exactly the same as before. Of course all the popular kids in high school thought I was a freak before. The way I see it is that now I'm just a freak that can protect is friends better than before," said Xander with a shrug.

"Yeah, because being unpopular is the biggest problem someone can have," said John.

"No the biggest problem you can have is being mad at your friend because he has a better house and family than you do," said Xander.

"What! You are so far off it isn't even funny, and I don't have to listen to it," said John as he started to get up from the couch, but immediately stopped when he heard a deep growl escape the fanged jaws that were just inches form his face.

"Go for your lighter and he rips your face off," said Xander in a deadly tone. "You forget our little talk already? I've seen as much, and done as much as you, maybe even more. I saw the way you were looking at the pictures of Bobby's family; I use to look at the pictures in my friend's houses the same way. You look at the pictures and hate them for getting the loving family, and then you hate yourself for hating your friend for such a stupid reason. Does that sound about right, or do you need me to talk a bit more?"

John didn't say anything for a while, but he also refused to look Xander in the eyes.

"How did you stop hating them?" asked John.

"Simple, I stopped thinking of them as just friends and started thinking of them as family. The second I did that I had the family I always wanted. It wasn't always easy keeping the family together, but nothing worth while is ever easy," said Xander.

"Cute, you should write that down, make it an after school special," said John.

"Could, but I'm giving you a sneak preview because you remind me of someone that I met about a year ago now. She was a lot like you, looked at family pictures the same way you do, but I didn't tell her what I told you. A few months after I met her she snapped, as in full on shoot up the school snapped, and because of her actions she'll probably be in a coma for the rest of her life. Personally I'm hoping that you can do better," said Xander.

"We'll see," said John. "Now do you think you can call off the mutt?"

"No problem," said Xander as he caused Fido to disappear with a wave of his hand. It had been the first time he had actively called the spirit to the physical world, and Xander was pleasantly surprised at just how easy it was. This time though he had felt a slight drain when the hyena was in a physical form, so while calling them wasn't a problem keeping them solid could be if he needed them for a long time.

"What the hell are you doing in my house!" exclaimed a middle aged man as he walked into the room.

"Don't worry Mr. Drake, we're Bobby's friends, and if you'll just wait a moment he'll come down and explain things to you," said Xander with the same false smile he had used when he had met Cordy's parents.

"Have you ever tried, not being a mutant?" asked Mrs. Drake in the most pitiful voice Xander had ever heard.

"Hey that sounds like the perfect solution," said Xander in a voice full of sarcasm. "I'm all set to try it, but first I need you to do something for me, try not being a human. Maybe if you want it enough you could turn yourself into a fish. I think I saw a Don Knotts film where it happened, so it isn't too far fetched."

"Not helping Harris," growled Logan even as John smirked.

"Oh come on, I just said what everyone else was thinking. We are the way we are, it doesn't matter how we got our powers we have them and nothing short of killing us will change that. That means that they'll either eventually accept Bobby for what he is or they'll kill Bobby in his sleep," said Xander.

"We would never do that!" said Mr. Drake. "Bobby's our son and we love him, this is just a bit much to take in."

"Glad to hear it, that means that Bobby being a decent guy isn't a fluke," said Xander with a smirk. It had been a gamble, but Xander had figured that this was like when his parents fought. They would do their best to tear each other to shreds, but if a cop threatened either one, they would instantly team up to attack the cop. These people still loved their son; they just needed someone to remind them about that by attacking him.

The argument was further derailed as the gadget that Logan had found in the car started to ring. Apparently some of the others had survived and they were making contact.

"You know maybe it would help if you saw what Bobby could do," said Marie.

Bobby didn't hesitate to show off his power. Maybe it shouldn't be too surprising, after all the kid had to hide a large part of himself from his family for a long time and was probably feeling excited that he didn't have to do that any more.

Then again the exact same thing could be said about children who are gay or lesbians, and sometimes their parents still kick them out of the house.

"So exactly who are you running from again Bobby?" asked Mr. Drake as he and his wife looked at the ice sculpture their son had just made.

"The people who want to start up the death camps again, only this time it's going to be mutants instead of Jews," said Xander.

"There's no way the government would sanction something like that," said Mrs. Drake.

"Sanctioned or not it's happening. If mutants start to disappear, can you honestly name someone that would sound an alarm? As far as the government is concerned mutants are the best thing that ever happened to the armed forces. Kidnap and brainwash a few mutants and they have a relatively cheap weapon, and if that weapon dies just kidnap and brainwash another mutant," said Xander in a haunted voice.

"I'm sorry but I refuse to believe that that kind of thing could happen today," said Mr. Drake.

"Listen I just spent the last two months in one of those camps, so trust me when I say it doesn't matter what you believe, it is happening," said Xander.

"I think we need to go, now," said Logan as he came back into the room, successfully cutting off the conversation.

"Why?" asked Marie.

"This is the police. We have the house surrounded, come out with your hands up," said a voice that was amplified by a bullhorn, and most of the people in the house could tell that the owner of the voice was nervous. As far as Xander was concerned nervous cops were the last thing they needed because those kind of cops tended to have itchy trigger fingers.

"That's why," said Logan as he extended his metallic claws.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, I must be the personal buttmonkey of every god in existence," said Xander as he followed the group to the front door.

"Put down the knives," said a very young and very nervous cop.

"I can't," said Logan.

"I said put down the knives!" shouted the cop.

"Listen," said Logan as he tried to put his hands up in a placating manner, and that was all it took for all hell to break loose.

The second that Logan's hand came up the cop fired. It didn't matter that he wasn't in danger even if Logan could throw the knives, the cop simply saw something sharp being pointed at him and reacted.

The second that Logan hit the floor with blood pouring out of his head the cop started to scream at the teenagers to get on the ground. Marie and Bobby instantly complied, but Xander and John continued to stand. Xander knew that if they were captured they would take him and the others to someplace similar to the hell he had lived in for the past few months, and there was no way he was going to let that happen. John on the other hand was just fed up with being feared and figured if he was going to scare people anyway he may as well give them to be scared of.

"Fido, SB, disarm only. These guys probably don't deserve to die so try to keep them alive and in one piece," said Xander as he summoned his two physic roommates into the physical world. "John, keep the heat high enough to keep them back, but not hot enough to hurt them."

"You saying that they don't deserve this?" asked John as he shot a large column of flame at a cop car.

"I'm saying that they're just trying to do a job, and no one deserves to die just for doing a job. It's the ones that start the witch hunts that deserve to be burnt at the stake," said Xander as he smiled at the thought of that stupid Hansel and Gretel demon being impaled on Buffy's stake. Man how sad was it that he was actually looking back fondly on events of death and destruction.

"No extra crispy, but how about medium rare?" asked John as he sent a jet of flame close enough to one group to give some of them second degree burns.

"Only if they're about to kill us," said Xander. "That's the difference between staying sane and cracking up. If they try to kill you first and there's no other way then kill them, but only if they start it and there's no other way. If you don't do that much you're just a couple steps from being a psycho killer."

"Kill only when it's kill or be killed, got it," said John as he shot a jet of flame that roasted a car that some cops were using for cover. "Do you really think a fight is the best time to be talking about this though?"

"Yeah!" said Xander. "Now for lesson number two. If you want people to live don't use your powers on something that contains flammable material!"

"Sorry," said John as he contained the fire from the exploding cop car.

"No fatalities, no worries!" said Xander as Fido disarmed yet another cop.

"On the bright side it looks like our ride is here," said John as he pointed up to where a jet was landing.

"You guys got your own jet! And here I was thinking that people were exaggerating about the perks private schools get," said Xander.

"All right you two, play time's over," said Logan as he got up and brushed himself off.

"Weren't you just dead?" asked Xander as he looked at the shorter man in shock.

"I'll explain later, right now I think we should leave before they send the Green Berets after you two," said Logan as he, Bobby, and Marie walked towards the jet.

"Ah, why not, this has to be better than riding the bus to school," said Xander as he started to walk towards the aircraft, sparing the young cop a glare as he passed him.


	7. Any Landing

"Ah crap," said Xander as he caught sight of the dark blue demon that was casually sitting in one of the seats. He couldn't identify the species, but he recognized those tattoos from somewhere so it was just a matter of how much of a threat it was.

"Is there a problem here?" asked a woman with short red hair.

"Maybe," said Xander while never taking his eyes off of the demon.

"Well hurry up and get strapped in, the National Guard will probably be here any minute," said Logan as he shoved Xander into the seat right next to the demon.

"I'm sorry if my appearance brings you discomfort," said the demon with a moderate German accent. "Perhaps if we were properly introduced you would be more at ease. Allow me to go first, my name is Kurt Wagner, but in the Munich Circus I was known as the Incredible Nightcrawler!"

"Xander," said the dark haired teen, taking the offered three fingered teen hand only after seeing the homemade cross. While only vampires seemed to be effected by religious items, there weren't many demons who would willingly wear a cross.

"So where are we going?" asked John as he fastened the safety straps of his seat.

"Back to the school," said an attractive black woman with pure white hair.

"So we're going back to a place where we were ambushed and almost killed. I'm sorry but am I the only one who thinks that's a really bad, not to mention stupid, idea?" asked Xander.

"He kind of has a point there," said John.

"There may still be students hiding out in the mansion, besides the attackers may have left some clue as to who they are and where they took the children," said the black woman.

"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on the student angle, but you won't find any clues," said Xander in a firm voice.

"How can you be so sure? And just who are you anyway?" asked the red head.

"Like I told Kurt, names Xander. As to how I'm sure, those guys moved like they were familiar with the mutant smash and grab. They've probably done this before, and have been trained not to leave anything that can be traced back to them."

"We have to at least try," stated Marie.

"Not arguing that, just saying that we should be prepared to have guns shoved in our faces soon after we start looking."

"Just so long as we understand each other," said the red head just before a female voice crackled to life over the radio, demanding that they descend and go to some military base.

"Huh, you know of all the ways I thought I was going to die, death by rocket never entered the equation until now," said Xander in a remarkably calm tone considering the panic that was beginning to claw at his guts.

"Well if you and John hadn't gone and pissed them off we wouldn't be in this mess," growled Logan.

"Hey I was a bit upset that you got shot! On the bright side though if that doesn't pave the way for an insanity plea at my trial nothing will," said Xander, getting a snort of laughter from John and a menacing growl from Logan. Oh well one positive reaction was better than none.

"Both of you shut up and hang on," snapped the red head right before she increased the speed of the plane and did a barrel roll.

"Let's not do that again," said John with a sick look gracing his features.

"Agreed," said Logan.

"Wimps," said Xander with a grin, even though he had just barely managed to keep his last meal inside his stomach. "So is the plan to run away or does this thing have weapons? Got to say, I'm good with either option at the moment."

"We are the weapons," said the black woman in a soft but firm voice.

As soon as the words had left her mouth the hairs on the back of Xanders neck began to rise. If his high school career had taught him one thing it was how to spot powerful women, and if he was right this woman had power to spare. On the bright side though the hair on the back of his neck was the only part of him that was rising, he really didn't need another embarrassing moment during a life and death struggle.

As the sky darkened and the clouds rolled in Xander couldn't help almost feeling sorry for the pilots of the two fighters. Of course said pilots were trying to kill them, hence the almost part of his thought patterns.

"Note to self, never fly with these people again," muttered Xander as he increased his grip on his seat to white knuckle status. In just a few seconds the flight had become extremely rough, though considering the fact that they were flying around freaking tornado's someone was doing something to smooth things over.

"Is it over?" asked Bobby as soon as the sky cleared, and just a few seconds before some kind of alarm started to blare on the dashboard.

"If we survive this I'm going to make you watch every horror and action flick in existence until you learn that saying that kind of stuff only leads to bad things happening," groaned the only member of the Scooby Gang present.

"You're saying this is my fault?!" asked Bobby as the plane did even more twists and turns in an attempt to avoid whatever was making the alarms go off.

"Shut up, I'm trying to concentrate!" yelled the red head, just before something happened that made Xander break out in a cold sweat. The black woman may have power, but some instinct was telling him that the red head was power. Not the tie shoelaces without touching them power, but destroy the world if she got annoyed power.

Maybe it would be a good idea to stop annoying her.

As quickly as the feeling of near omnipotence rolling off the woman had started, it seemed to instantly stop. In Xander's opinion, that could potentially be a bad thing.

"Jean, there's still one more," shouted the black woman.

"I can't," gasped Jean, right before the top of the plane was blown away.

Yep, power flux definitely goes in the bad thing category.

The second the roof blew out the instincts from the soldier instantly took over and he got himself in the safest position he could. He was vaguely aware of screams and the stench of brimstone, but he didn't, or more accurately couldn't, move.

Slowly Xander came to realize that they seemed to be slowing down. By the time his instincts told him it was safe to look up they had already come to a complete stop, and Xander was able to get a very unique view.

"Huh, who knew that the afterlife had naked blue women?" commented Xander before he could stop himself.

"I think it would be best if you didn't talk for a while," said Jean as she leveled a rather intimidating glare at Xander, and considering that he had been glared at by Slayers and their mothers, that was saying something.

"I'll see what I can do," said Xander as the plane was gently lowered to the ground.

"Good," said Jean as she flipped a switch and lowered the ramp so they could go outside.

"Welcome, I trust you enjoyed your flight?" asked an old man with a slight British accent as soon as the group had left the aircraft.

"Great, someone with my sense of humor, we're doomed," said Xander in a flippant tone. "Got to say it's almost disappointing to know that the great Magneto makes jokes at all."

"Been telling tales of me in that school of yours?" asked Magneto with an arched eyebrow as he gazed at the adults. "I hope that you didn't believe everything that they have told you young man, the truth is a bit more complicated than they would care to admit."

"They haven't said anything, but I'm sure Victor would want me to say hi for him," said Xander.

"As interesting as this is can we please cut the crap?" said Logan before Magneto had a chance to respond to Xander's comment. "I doubt that you rescued us out of the goodness of your heart, so what do you want?"

"The same thing you want of course, the continued existence of Mutantkind," said Magneto before he looked up in the sky. "It will be dark soon, so I suggest you make camp while you still have light to do so, we can discuss other matters after dark."

"Right," said Logan. He didn't want to admit it but Magneto had a point about setting up camp when they could actually see what they were doing.

"Do we get to roast marshmallows too?" asked Xander in a semi sarcastic voice as he followed the other teens to where the survival equipment was stored.

"For me it's always been about the bonfire," John said as he caused a jet of flame to dance between his fingers.

"Would you two stop it already," Marie shrieked. "This is serious, but you two are cracking stupid jokes and fighting cops. Do you both have brain damage or something?!"

John looked like he was about to tear back at Marie, but Xander cut him off before he could even get started. "Don't say it John, you'll regret it later when you figure you she has a point."

"What?!"

"We have been acting insane, but that's only so we don't go nuts. As for the police thing, no harm no foul as far as I'm concerned," said Xander with a shrug.

"Mind explaining that first sentence?" asked Bobby as he started to hand out the gear.

"My philosophy is that insanity is like a boiler. Us going insane when it's quiet is our way of taking some of the pressure off so we don't snap and start killing everyone," Xander said as he took a few arm loads of sleeping bags.

"That's comforting to know," said Marie, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Comforting or not, it's the truth."

The rest of the time setting up camp was spent in silence. Of course that silence was shattered when Logan told the group that they were too young to sit in while they discussed things with Magneto. This had led to a shouting match that Xander eventually won when he pointed out that because the soldiers hadn't just gone after the teachers they all had an equal stake in this.

Because of this confrontation everyone got to hear Magneto's story about William Striker, a man who truly hated mutants and had government backing.

"Luckily there are two individuals here who may be able to shed some light as to where Mr. Striker is currently hiding out," said Magneto.

"Two?" Logan asked.

"Yes two, our demonic looking friend, and the young man who met our Mr. Creed."

"So it is the same agency," said Xander, his worst fears confirmed.

"We believe so, yes."

"Well crap," said Xander as he put his face in his hands. "Could you do me a favor and dig around in Kurt's head first? I don't really want anyone poking around in mind unless it's necessary."

"Vhy vould they need to look into our minds?" asked Kurt.

"I don't know about you but if I consciously knew anything that could help I would have told them by now. That means that what ever they need is in our subconscious, hence them digging into our heads."

"An astute observation," said Magneto.

"I promise it won't hurt, and I won't look anywhere other then where I need to look," said Jean.

Kurt agreed and soon it was revealed that their little mismatched group would be going to Canada. Well as soon as the jet was repaired that was, until then there really wasn't much to do.

"May I have a moment of your time young man?" asked a voice from the darkness.

"Sure, just give me a second to get over my heart attack first," Xander said in exaggerated distress. The old man was stealthy, but not as quiet as the average vamp.

"I was just wondering where you encountered Mr. Creed, Mystique couldn't find a trace of him anywhere," said Magneto as he stepped out into the moonlight.

"In a nightmare," said Xander with a grimace as memories that he had been trying to cover up slammed into him once again.

"I think I may have some experience with those particular types of nightmares," Magneto said as he rolled up one of his sleeves, revealing the numbers that had been tattooed onto his arm.

"Yeah, I guess you do," whispered Xander, knowing exactly what that particular tattoo meant after seeing it on Willows grandfather.

"That's why their dream of mutants and humans sharing the world will never work you know, humanity has proven it's self incapable of learning from it's past."

"Yeah well what are you going to do? You know, other than sending everyone to summer school," asked Xander.

"Fight back," Magneto instantly replied. "Make sure that when they decide to bring the war to us that we have the power to respond in kind."

"Or bring the war to them first, right?" asked Xander with an upraised eyebrow. "Sorry to be the one to tell you this but if mutants and humans ever really went to war I'd bet on both sides losing. Don't get me wrong I'll happily throw any Nazi wannabe into his own oven, but there are worse things out there than some bigots, things that always take advantage of when we fight against each other instead of against them."

"And just how bad do you think the world would become if this third party won?"

"Bad enough that our little shared experience would be the best dream any man woman or child could have," said Xander as he walked back toward the camp site, leaving Magneto to wonder if Xander was insane or if the dark haired youth had looked deeper into the darkness than he had ever dared.


	8. Into the Breach

"What do you mean we aren't going," exclaimed John, real anger in his voice.

"The sentence 'you aren't going' says it all kid," said Logan in his growl of a voice.

"They attacked the school, and you expect us to just stay here, doing nothing?" Bobby asked.

"Yep," said Logan.

John, Bobby and Marie all turned towards Xander, making it clear that they expected him to be their champion in this.

"Okay fine," said Xander, as he let out a sigh. "Logan, your reasoning is crap, but I agree that they should stay here."

"What?!" asked just about everyone in the jet.

"They should stay here, but not because they're kids. Think about it for a while, unless we kill everyone on the base, we're going to have people trying to kill us when we have our hands full with a bunch of scared and possibly injured kids. Now keeping that in mind doesn't it make sense to have some people that can lay down cover fire that wouldn't be completely exhausted from fighting?"

"Clever," said Magneto, with a bit of a chuckle in his voice. "It's good to know that at least the children have learned something useful in that school of yours."

"I didn't learn how to think like this from a school, I learned to think like this while helping to break out of a place like this. And just FYI if I wasn't worried about the robots I'd ask you to stay here too. That way I wouldn't have to worry about you having a heart attack or something."

"Robots?" asked Logan with a raised eyebrow.

"The last place had robots. They probably would have killed us all too if our magnet person hadn't crushed them into cubes."

"Great," muttered Logan. "Robots, what's next shape shifting aliens?"

Xander wisely decided not to mention the shape shifting demons as Mystique sent a signal indicating that she was in the control room.

* * *

The fight was brutal, just like Xander had expected it to be. The soldiers in the base had been put on alert after Mystique had taken over the control room so the six mutants had to fight for every foot that they gained.

"Crap!" shouted Xander, as he ducked for cover as another intelligent soldier started to shoot at him. Most of the fire was being directed at the people with the flashy powers, but every now and then someone would figure out that the kid in the dark tee shirt and jeans was the one controlling the large hyena and the faceless soldier.

"SB, if you aren't saving someone else, find out who's shooting at me and shoot back!" shouted Xander. Xander thought he could probably command SB and Fido with mental commands, but at the moment he figured it was better to be safe than dead.

Soldier Boy turned, ignoring the gunfire that was ripping through his inorganic body, found the person who had pinned Xander down and put four rounds into the soldiers head. That was another thing that Xander was happy to find out about, apparently if either SB or Fido got hurt they instantly healed, though it seemed to be making Xander tire out quicker than the last times he had used his newfound powers.

Soon enough though the resistance began to thin out as the defenders decided to simply run for their lives or were incapacitated by the mutant attackers. Deciding that conserving his strength would be a good idea Xander called his two manifestations back into his mind.

"Blast doors," stated Xander, as he looked at the large doors that, ironically enough, had five holes blasted out of it that would form a crude X if they were all connected.

"Allow me," said Magneto, as he used his power over metal to rip the door out of its foundation.

"Nice," said Xander, as he saw Mystique casually sitting at the controls, two dead bodies close to her.

"Still worried about that heart attack?" asked Magneto.

Several responses ran through Xander's head, most having to do with Mystique and her usual lack of clothing. Luckily for him his long buried survival instinct decided to assert itself and he decided that pissing off the dangerous mutants may not be the best idea.

"Okay, so I'm not as worried about that now," said Xander.

"Have you located the Professor yet?" asked Jean, as she did her best to ignore the two dead soldiers on the ground. She and Storm seemed to prefer the non-lethal route, but both seemed to recognize that a war zone wasn't the best time to debate the morality of killing.

"There's a large power drain in this area," said Mystique with an almost bored look on her face.

"Cerebro," said Jean, as soon as the layout of that area was pulled up.

"We'll handle it," Magneto said in what was probably meant to be a reassuring tone.

"Not without us," Jean instantly responded.

"Jean look," said Storm, as she pointed to one of the other monitors.

The scene on the monitors made Xander's blood run cold. One ten year old girl stood out from the group of kids in the holding cell. She was using a bone spike that Xander knew she had pulled from her own flesh to probe the electrified cage.

Xander didn't know if he should be proud of Sarah for testing the defenses like that, or horrified that she was already so jaded that she had thought to test the defenses like that. One thing that he did know though, he was going to make whoever was in charge of this place Fido's personal chew toy.

"Okay Storm, Kurt and Xander will go get the kids, I'll go help the professor," said Jean.

"How about I come with you," said Xander. "I can send Soldier Boy or Fido to help rescue the kids."

"How do you intend to protect yourself if your little phantoms are off elsewhere?" asked Magneto.

"I'll manage," said Xander as he started to casually strip off the weapons from the dead bodies.

"Fine, you'll come with us. Logan I want you to…" Jean trailed off as she looked around and realized that Logan had left.

"Where's Logan," asked Storm.

"He left," said Jean with a look of anguish in her face.

"Don't worry about it." Xander summoned Fido to his side. "Go find Logan and back him up if he needs it."

The doglike creature only gave a yip in acknowledgement before it started too bound down the halls, its keen sense of smell telling it where it needed to go.

"Guess that leaves you with SB Storm," said the California native as he put the last weapon in place.

"Don't you need to see what they're doing?" asked the black woman.

"Nah, they seemed to do okay with instructions back at the school," the young teen answered as he summoned his other spirit. "Listen to Storm SB, but do whatever it takes to rescue the kids."

The faceless soldier simply nodded and went over to stand by Storm and Kurt. The embodiment of Xander's Halloween possession knew that the orders meant that if there was a choice between getting the children out of the base and making a few dead bodies he was supposed to choose the dead bodies, no matter what Storm and Kurt thought on the matter.

* * *

The Hyena, or Fido as it was more often called these days, enjoyed the rush of wind as it raced down the tunnels, hunting down its prey. It occasionally stopped to kill one of the soldiers that were unfortunate enough to cross its path, but they were small distractions that were hardly worth mentioning.

The only thing that truly mattered was that it was once again able to hunt. It may be true that the boy had restricted the hunt, but not by much.

The time soon came when Fido reached the man it had been chasing. Apparently this prey had claws of its own though, claws that were currently sunk deep into the flesh of a woman.

The primal animal spirit already knew what the man did not, that the wounds inflicted would not be enough to kill the woman. Already the smell of blood was lessening when its odor should be filling the room, the woman was healing.

As much as the spirit would enjoy seeing the two battle it had an objective to accomplish, protect the man. At the moment the task would be accomplished by simply snapping the neck of the woman that he was trying to kill.

The hunter was as quick as the wind and as silent as a shadow as it made its way across the room. In less than a moment sharp claws were imbedded into the woman's back and impossibly sharp teeth were ripping the soft flesh of the woman's neck.

Fido knew that with one hard twist the woman would be dead or injured so badly as not to be a concern, but then the unexpected happened. When the spirit twisted it did not feel its teeth encounter bone, but something that was impossibly strong, something that caused it's supernaturally strong teeth to break and shatter.

The woman easily threw off the spirit after she worked her way off of the man's claws. The hyena watched her, even as it's jaw almost instantly healed. Her movements were graceful, but lacked passion or any true emotion; it was if she was simply a shell whose contents had been hidden elsewhere.

Quickly deciding on a course of action the dog like animal yipped once, drawing the eyes of the man it had been sent to protect. The contact only lasted for an instant, but it was long enough for the two to silently communicate in the primal language of true hunters.

With a simple nod of his head the man turned and started to run from the fight, to continue on his own hunt. When the woman attempted to stop the man the hyena was there, slashing across her stomach and giving the man time to leave.

This was what the spirit wanted, single combat against a foe that was possibly incapable of death. This was a task that was truly worthy of an Alpha.

Also it was possible that the fight would unlock the spirit of the woman. If that happened she would be a worthy mate for the boy, if he could get him to take her.


	9. Didn't we do this already?

"Well, that was quick," said Xander as the dust began to settle. It was an important lesson, when facing someone that could control metal hand grenades were a fashion don't.

Okay so he was quipping, he did that when he was nervous. The thing was Xander wasn't nervous for the reasons most people would think. Sure he was in a life or death situation, but that was nothing new to him. No what had him nervous was the large surge of power he had felt, quickly followed by an ominous rumble.

In Xanders opinion they never should have left Jean on her own to deal with the guy who was shooting lasers out of his eyes. Granted she seemed like she could probably take the guy, and Magneto had mentioned something about a lovers quarrel, but now Xander was left with the disturbing feeling that he had missed something really important.

Just as he was about to voice his opinions on the matter his head burst into blinding pain. It was so sudden and so intense that he was quickly sprawled out on the floor, just barley able to register that Mystique was in the same position.

After a fraction of a second more of pain though, Xander once again felt the two spirits snap back into his mind. This time though he got two mental images to go with their return, one of an attractive Asian woman cut and bleeding on the ground, and another of Sarah with a group of kids in some tunnel.

With his roommates back in his head Xander's headache went from where his brain was attempting to escape his skull to something a couple of over the counter pain killers could take care of.

In one of those moments that seem to last forever Xander watched the man known as Magneto strain against an invisible force. It was an ancient battle; the will of a man verses the quality of a machine, the fight only ending when one of them was no longer working. The end was inevitable when you thought of it that way, because while Erik Lehnsherr had learned many things in his long life, how to give up was not one of them.

"Better than aspirin," commented Xander as his headache completely left.

"Glad to be of service," said Magneto as he opened the doors to reveal two men in wheelchairs. One was bald and well dressed, while the other was younger with a tube coming out of the back of his neck.

"Okay, so I'm guessing that we kill the guy with the tube attached to the back of his neck," said Xander as he followed Magneto onto the catwalk.

"Neither," said the old man. "I've given our discussion some thought and have come to the conclusion that you were right. If humans and mutants ever engaged in open warfare it would severely damage the world, perhaps beyond repair, so there will be no war."

"That's nice, but seriously we should probably kill this guy so nothing like this happens again," said Xander.

"In an hour there will be no need. I simply said there would be no war, not that humanity would continue to go on living," said Magneto as he rose up into the air and began to move panels around.

"Oh, okay," muttered Xander as he instantly aimed and fired at the younger of the two wheelchair bound men.

It only came as a mild shock when the bullet stopped inches from the mans head, when you were around someone who could control metals to the extent of Magneto one tends to expect things like this.

No the big shock came half a second later when Xander found that he couldn't summon either Fido or Soldier Boy. Having something that shot non-metallic bullets was going to be the only real ace Xander had to play if things began to turn the way that they had.

A fraction of a second after he had failed to summon his spiritual protectors Xander found himself flying through the air, the assault rifle that he had been carrying wrapping it's self around his body.

Both Magneto and Mystique ignored Xander's shouts and taunts as the teen hung helplessly against a wall in the hall. It figured that when he needed his guardians the most they, or perhaps it was Xander, were too worn out to manifest physically.

Once the two adult mutants had finished doing what ever needed to be done to make sure that humans would be killed now instead of mutants they calmly but quickly walked out of the room, Magneto sealing the door behind him.

"I only have one question for you, why?" asked the elderly man as he stopped in

front of Xander.

"Two answers," said Xander. "First there are more humans than mutants in the world; this means that the third party I talked about will still overwhelm the survivors. So congratulations, you're responsible for the death of two species instead of just one.

"The second reason is a lot simpler, my best friends aren't mutants. If they die, and somehow you actually win the war that's coming I'm going to kill you, even if I have to come back from the dead to do it."

"Death is nothing special, it comes to everyone, the only thing that matters is what you do while you are still alive," responded Magneto as he turned and began to walk away. "Despite what you or even history may think of me I honestly believe that the actions of my life will save mutants from extermination."

With those parting words they were gone, leaving Xander to deal with this new situation on his own.

"Okay Harris, you have a rifle wrapped around your body, you're stuck to a wall, and if you don't get free soon all of your friends will die," muttered Xander as he tried to work out the situation. "Okay, what would Buffy do in this situation? Well she would probably use her magical slayer strength to break the rifle, open the door, and stab the evil mind controller with Mr. Pointy. And that didn't help me out at all."

It was at that moment that Xander heard footsteps coming down the hall, footsteps that the young man figured belonged to a group of mutants, hopefully ones that wouldn't try and kill him.

Two seconds later it was still debatable if the group meant him harm or not. Well maybe not intentional harm, but a young girl with bone spikes randomly erupting from her skin trying to graft herself to his leg was not a pleasant experience.

"Hey Sarah, it's nice to see you too, but could you please back off until I'm free?" asked Xander.

She did so, and Xander was soon set free by a man that shot red beams of energy out of a visor, a man that had shot those beams of energy at Xander's head not more than ten minutes ago. The young Sunnydale native was once again grateful that he hadn't shot the man, and not just because it would have pissed off the incredibly powerful red head.

"Okay here's what I think is happening, Magneto did something to that machine," Xander started to say before he was interrupted.

"Now it's targeting humans instead of mutants. It wouldn't be hard to figure out even if I hadn't felt the change," finished Jean.

"Okay so you know the problem, the question is do you know the solution?"

"Kurt," said Storm as she turned towards the demonic looking mutant.

"I can not," said Kurt. "I told you, I need to see where it is that I am going."

"Then we're both going to need a bit of faith," replied the black mutant.

To Xander's amazement this seemed to be enough for Kurt because he embraced Storm, muttered something that sounded like a prayer, and vanished. The odor of brimstone that filled the room that wafted from the spot the two people had occupied didn't help rid Xander of the demonic impression he got every time he saw Kurt though.

"Anyone have a backup plan in case they fail?" asked Xander after a few tense moments of silence.

"They won't fail," said Jean in a firm tone.

"Well you know them better than I do, but if you don't mind I'd at least like to know where the explosives are stored."

"Storm won't fail," said the man that Jean was leaning on.

"Yeah, I don't even know you. What's your name anyway?" asked Xander.

"Cyclops," replied the man.

"Man, why can't anyone use their real name?"

"Because places like this are probably monitored and we don't want to give them any clues that would lead them to our front door," said Cyclops in a serious voice.

"Huh, that actually sounds smart. I guess you can call me Morpheus until this is over then," said Xander. He may not like the idea of using any other name than Xander but the man made a good point, and it felt different giving himself a name than it did when Weapon X had given him one. Of course because he took a step forward the universe once again decided to slap him down, this time by making the entire room they were standing in shake.

"I think that we should move, as in right now," the young Sunnydale native said as he nervously looked around.

"Not yet," said Jean.

Xander quickly glanced at Sarah as she desperately clung to his hand and said, "Five minutes, then we're leaving."

"Fair enough," said Cyclops right before Kurt teleported back, holding Storm before instantly disappearing again.

In less time than it took Xander to blink the demonic looking mutant had returned. This time carrying the bald man that was, presumably, Professor Xavier.

"Okay now that everyone is here I think it's time to put plan B into action, or as I like to call it operation run like hell so we don't die," said Xander once Storm and Kurt had the professor secured between them.

"Sounds good to me," said Storm as the group began to move down the corridor at a speed that was quite astonishing, considering that they were transporting an apparently crippled man without the use of a wheel chair. Adrenal glands were truly wonderful things to have, especially in fight then flight situations such as these.

The first thoughts Xander had when the doors to the spillway began to close was that they hadn't been fast enough, and that they had been too lucky so far. Not once had they encountered a living human that had tried to stop them. Xander had simply chalked it up to a case of rats abandoning a sinking ship, but apparently he had been wrong.

Well, those where his first thoughts anyway. His second thoughts were drastically different because it incorporated the water spraying at a high pressure from the seals of the floodgate door. Now his thoughts were along the lines that being on the other end of the door would be a bad thing, unless his mutation meant that he could instantly grow some gills so he could breathe under water.

Actually, considering his swim team experience, it wasn't completely out of the realm of possibility that he could grow gills if he tried. That didn't mean that he wanted to test that particular theory at the moment, or at any time in the future for that matter.

Okay so now they were following Logan towards a helicopter that he had found, but something was wrong. No, not wrong, more like he was forgetting something, something that he could remember if he could only stop running and think for a second.

Too bad Buffy and Willow weren't here; it was always easier to think when he was quipping with someone. John had been a good substitute, but the young mutant didn't have the years of experience with Xander that the two supernaturally empowered women did.

Wait a second, John.

Oh God.

"Hey has anyone thought to tell the people in the jet that the dam is about to break, and that we're gong to need them at wherever the helicopter is?" asked Xander as they broke into the open air.

"Kid has a point, the 'copter should be able to take most of us, but it'll be iffy if we try and fit everyone inside."

"And then there is the option of no helicopter," said Xander as they came into a clearing, no helicopter in sight.

"I don't get it, it was right here!" shouted Logan as he looked around the area.

"Okay, once again saying that it would be a good idea to tell the people in the jet where we are."

"They've already found us," said Jean with half a smile playing on her lips, as a barely audible wine began to fill the air.

The sight of the jet flying over the tree line was a bit of a surprise to say the least. The landing that took place soon afterward could use a bit of work, but considering who was left to fly anything short of completely destroying the plane was to be considered of the good.

Xander for one didn't waste too much time gawking, he simply picked up Sarah and ran for the only chance of life either of them had at the moment.

"Hey John, sorry but there are no soldiers for you to kill, maybe next time," said Xander as soon as he saw the young blond man.

"As long as Marie doesn't fly ever again, I can live with there not being a next time," said John as he helped the younger mutants onto the jet.

"Yeah because I'm sure that flying a jet was allll her idea," said Xander with a smirk.

"Hey I just wanted them to stop taking orders from everyone, not commit suicide," the fire manipulator said as Logan came in carrying the last abducted child.

"Aren't we going to destroy the base this time too?" asked Sarah from where Xander had strapped her into one of the seats.

"The alarms you heard were saying that it's about to be destroyed, but if you really want I'm sure John will burn the place down just like what we did last time," said Xander.

"Really?" asked Sarah in a hopeful voice.

"Sure thing kid, always wanted to add arson to my record," said John.

"Good, they were bad people," said the barely pubescent girl in a tone that indicated that she would have no problems with the people who ran that place experiencing the worst tortures known to man.

No girl her age should be capable of a tone like that, and not for the first time this summer Xander was happy that he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that hell existed. Whatever awaited these people after they died would no doubt be extremely unpleasant, and as far as Xander was concerned they deserved every second of it.

"Has anyone noticed that we aren't taking off yet?" asked an Asian girl that Xander didn't know.

"Hey Jean, is something wrong?" Xander asked the woman as she was walking down the isle and towards the opening ladder.

"No, everything's okay," said the older woman, and Xander could once again feel the power building within her.

"If you say so," said Xander as he watched her get out of the plane. If there was one thing he had learned on the Hellmouth it was not to argue with hot, powerful women unless they were about to do something truly stupid.

Well, that was his normal policy anyway, one he didn't enforce in this situation. He knew, or at least had a strong idea, what Jean was going to do but did nothing to stop her. Maybe because there was nothing he could have done to stop her if the efforts of Kurt and Cyclops were any indication of what Jean was willing to do to enforce her will.

Xander for one wasn't going to be one to belittle her choice. Because of her actions the oncoming water had parted as if she had the power of God behind her, leaving the people on the jet untouched. She's the one who got the plane working, and flying again, putting Sarah and himself out of harms way.

Xander didn't see for himself when Jean allowed the water to take her, only knowing that it happened by the cry of anguish Cyclops gave.

He would always remember Jean Grey, but despite how he may feel about her sacrifice Xander's body was telling him that he had pushed it too far over these last few days and demanded he sleep. Not seeing any dangers around to fight, Xander eventually, if reluctantly, gave in to those demands.

And while he slept he dreamed about an eternal flame that could never be extinguished. The darkness kept trying to destroy the flame, but only succeeded in burying it deep beneath the surface where no one could find it. It still burned though, waiting for the day it would be set free, for the day it could fly again.

Then the jet hit some turbulence, waking Xander up just enough for him to switch to the more pleasant dream involving Buffy, Cordelia, and a few of his favorite models from Sports Illustrated playing bikini volleyball. The only disturbing, or surreal, part about this dream was that both SB and Fido were there in bikinis as well.

* * *

"So how was the White House tour?" Xander asked John as he came into the common room of the mansion.

"Not bad, you should have come," answered one of the three newest X-Men.

"Couldn't, had to find out about my car," said Xander. He had lost his wallet and ID some time when he was being chased by the Weapon X goons so his car, and what he had in his car were the only things that could possibly link Xander Harris to Ash. Okay so it wasn't likely that the government would come looking for him, but if there was one thing this little adventure had taught him was that you shouldn't take chances with government agencies that you thought you had beat.

"So what's the verdict?"

"D.O.A. Apparently one of the customers, probably Ted, didn't like my last day of work so he threw a bunch of Molotov cocktails at my car. According to Dave, my most recent boss, there's nothing left except a burn out husk. Dave thought I was dead or running so after a month he sold what was left to the scrap yard for fifty bucks."

"Does that mean you're going to stick around here until you earn enough cash to head back?"

"Much as I'd like that I need to get home as quick as I can. The school year is about to start, and with school comes all the death and mayhem that my town is known and loved for. The Professor paid for a plane ticket, plus a bit extra for cab fair. Now all I need to do is come up with a story about why I'm coming home without a car and I'm good."

"What about your nightmares?"

"Gone for good according to Xavier. According to him now that I can let out my two friends any time I want I shouldn't have bad dreams involving them any more."

"I guess that this is the part where you say if I'm ever in your area to come and visit right?"

"Yeah, just call me first okay? There are some things about Sunnydale that you should know before you visit," said Xander as a cab pulled into the driveway. "Looks like my ride is here just do me one favor and try not to burn down the school."

"I'll try, but I don't make any promises. If my rep begins to suffer too badly I may have to resort to drastic measures to bring it back up."

"Just remember to bring enough marshmallows to share with everyone," said Xander as he started to head out the door.

John had been his last goodbye, having already talked to his road trip gang while the X-Men were off intimidating the President. That meant within twenty four hours he would be back to just worrying about vampires, demons, and the occasional end of the world situation.

Whatever, as long as he had his friends and there weren't any secret anti-mutant government agencies he could deal. After what he had survived the past couple months he could probably deal with anything.

Xander wasn't stupid enough to say these words out loud though. Maybe it was an effect that was only located on or around the Hellmouth, but why tempt fate?

The End


End file.
